Company Interview Playbooks

Know exactly what to expect. Detailed interview processes, focus areas, and insider tips for top tech companies.

G

Google

Timeline: 6-10 weeks

Interview Process

  1. 1Phone Screen
  2. 2Technical Phone
  3. 3Onsite (4-5 rounds)
  4. 4Team Match
  5. 5Hiring Committee

Engineering Levels

L3 (SWE II)L4 (SWE III)L5 (Senior)L6 (Staff)L7 (Sr Staff)

Focus Areas

DSA (Heavy)System DesignGoogleyness & LeadershipCoding on Whiteboard/Docs

Insider Tips

  • Practice coding in Google Docs — no autocomplete or syntax highlighting
  • System design is expected for L4+ (SWE II and above)
  • Team matching happens AFTER passing the hiring committee
  • Ask clarifying questions — interviewers want to see your thought process

Commonly Tested Topics

Graph algorithmsDynamic ProgrammingString manipulationDistributed systems
A

Amazon

Timeline: 4-8 weeks

Interview Process

  1. 1Online Assessment
  2. 2Phone Screen
  3. 3Onsite Loop (4-5 rounds)
  4. 4Bar Raiser Round

Engineering Levels

SDE ISDE IISDE III (Senior)PrincipalSr Principal

Focus Areas

Leadership Principles (Critical)DSASystem DesignObject-Oriented Design

Insider Tips

  • Every answer should tie back to a Leadership Principle — prepare 2 stories per LP
  • The Bar Raiser is an independent evaluator — treat every round as your best
  • STAR format is expected for all behavioral questions
  • Amazon emphasizes "bias for action" and "ownership" heavily

Commonly Tested Topics

Trees & GraphsOOP DesignLeadership PrinciplesScalable systems
M

Meta

Timeline: 4-6 weeks

Interview Process

  1. 1Recruiter Screen
  2. 2Technical Phone Screen
  3. 3Onsite (3-4 rounds)
  4. 4Team Match

Engineering Levels

E3 (SWE)E4 (SWE)E5 (Senior)E6 (Staff)E7 (Sr Staff)

Focus Areas

Coding (Heavy - 2 problems in 45 min)System DesignBehavioralProduct Sense (for some roles)

Insider Tips

  • Speed matters — expect to solve 2 medium problems in 45 minutes
  • Use a real IDE (CoderPad) — practice there
  • System design focuses on Meta-scale problems (billions of users)
  • Behavioral round focuses on collaboration and conflict resolution

Commonly Tested Topics

Arrays & StringsBFS/DFSBinary TreesSocial network design

Apple

Timeline: 6-12 weeks

Interview Process

  1. 1Recruiter Call
  2. 2Technical Phone Screen
  3. 3Onsite (5-6 rounds)
  4. 4Manager Interview

Engineering Levels

ICT2ICT3ICT4 (Senior)ICT5 (Staff)ICT6 (Principal)

Focus Areas

Domain-Specific KnowledgeCodingSystem DesignTeam Fit & Culture

Insider Tips

  • Apple interviews are team-specific — each team has different focus areas
  • Deep knowledge of your domain (iOS, macOS, ML, etc.) is crucial
  • The interview process is longer and more secretive than other FAANG
  • Culture fit and attention to detail are weighted heavily

Commonly Tested Topics

Domain knowledgeAlgorithmsMemory managementConcurrency
MS

Microsoft

Timeline: 4-8 weeks

Interview Process

  1. 1Recruiter Screen
  2. 2Technical Phone Screen
  3. 3Onsite Loop (4-5 rounds)
  4. 4As Appropriate (AA) Round

Engineering Levels

SDE (59)SDE II (61)Senior (63)Principal (65)Partner (67)

Focus Areas

DSASystem DesignBehavioralCoding on Whiteboard

Insider Tips

  • The "As Appropriate" (AA) round is with a senior hiring manager — it's the final decision
  • Microsoft values collaboration and growth mindset
  • Expect whiteboard coding — practice writing code by hand
  • System design questions often relate to Azure services

Commonly Tested Topics

Binary SearchLinked ListsCloud architectureAPI design
N

Netflix

Timeline: 4-6 weeks

Interview Process

  1. 1Recruiter Screen
  2. 2Hiring Manager Call
  3. 3Technical Phone Screen
  4. 4Onsite (5-6 rounds)

Engineering Levels

Senior SWEStaff SWEPrincipal SWEDistinguished SWE

Focus Areas

System Design (Heavy)Culture FitDomain ExpertisePast Experience Deep Dive

Insider Tips

  • Netflix hires almost exclusively senior engineers — deep experience is expected
  • Read and internalize the Netflix Culture Memo before interviewing
  • System design is the primary focus — expect in-depth architecture discussions
  • Compensation is top-of-market, all cash (no RSUs option available)

Commonly Tested Topics

Distributed systemsMicroservicesStreaming architectureResilience patterns

More companies coming soon: Stripe, Uber, Airbnb, LinkedIn, Salesforce, and more!